Sports Betting Access and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence fromOnline and Retail Legalization

Sports Betting Access and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence fromOnline and Retail Legalization | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Sports Betting Access and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence fromOnline and Retail Legalization Yizhao Wang, Xinxin Cao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9195227/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Since the 2018 Murphy v. NCAA decision, U.S. states have expanded sports betting through retail-only, online-only, and mixed regulatory regimes. Using Current Population Survey (CPS)micro-level data and a staggered group-time difference-in-differences design, we examine how expanded sports betting access affects labor market outcomes. We find modest but modality-specific effects: online-only legalization has little aggregate impact, retail-only legalization reduces labor force participation and actual weekly hours, and combined adoption of both online and retail legalization increases participation and employment. These aggregate patterns mask heterogeneity: online access reduces participation among young adults, while retail access has stronger negative effects with working intensity among women and single individuals. Overall, the results highlight that labor market responses depend on access modality and demographic-specific labor supply elasticities rather than uniform labor market withdrawal. JEL Codes: D91; J22; K23 Sports betting legalization Labor Supply Gambling Employment Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9195227","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":618047569,"identity":"41aea5f6-d119-4514-8360-ea3ed9fcdf73","order_by":0,"name":"Yizhao Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZjBpw8DADuEzNhCpJY2Bh5loLRBwmAQtBsd5DD8X/Dpvb8/M/Eyah8FGdsMBQloO8xhLz+y7ndjDzGYG1JJmTIQW3g3SvD23E4AOM7vNw3A4kRgtm3/z9pyz52Fm/wbU8p8oLdukeX4cYOxh5gHZcoCwFsnD/N+seRuSE3sO85T/nGOQbDyTkBa+88eSb/P8sbNnb2/fbPCmwk62j5AWBZACxja4OwkoBwH5BhD5hwiVo2AUjIJRMHIBAKKSP16iHMnUAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yizhao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":618047570,"identity":"8a4aa797-6f0b-4241-a070-0ca72b8997d3","order_by":1,"name":"Xinxin Cao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xinxin","middleName":"","lastName":"Cao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-23 03:54:21","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9195227/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9195227/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108006817,"identity":"03cdbffa-ccd7-4b8e-90ec-2aa4f05d03f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-28 12:57:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5762353,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"REHOSPORTSBETTING.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9195227/v1_covered_4b80b005-5c2c-4db1-b6ff-e19f1096f7d6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Sports Betting Access and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence fromOnline and Retail Legalization","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sports betting legalization, Labor Supply, Gambling, Employment","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9195227/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9195227/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSince the 2018 Murphy v. 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